Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Feminists in El Paso, Texas Hold Vigil for Murdered Lesbian Couple

Last weekend, feminists in El Paso, Texas held a vigil for Yulisza Ramírez and Nohemí Medina Martínez who were murdered earlier this month. We need to build a mass movement that will mobilize for every instance of homophobic, misogynistic, and patriarchal violence.

Paul Ginestá

January 28, 2022
Facebook Twitter Share
Julissa Ramírez and Nohemí Medina martinez, a queer Mexican couple who were murdered on January 15.

“Ni una más, ni una más, ni una asesinada más!” These chants could be heard in El Paso, Texas, after the homophobic murder of lesbian couple Yulisza Ramírez and Nohemí Medina Martínez in Ciudad Juárez on January 15.

Feminists from Juárez–El Paso gathered Saturday afternoon outside the General Consulate of Mexico in downtown El Paso. They were joined by activists and organizers from the migrants rights, labor rights, anti-racist, environmental, and education movements to stand in solidarity with the Juarenses organizing against femicide and to “denounce the homophobia, misogyny, and patriarchy that cause this violence.”

The murder of Yulisza and Nohemí occurred days after the two-year anniversary of Juarense artist and activist Isabel Cabanilla de la Torre’s murder. On January 17 in Juárez, a candlelight vigil was held for Isabel.

“I think the violence has increased too much, with more cruelty than before,” said Reyna de la Torres, Isabel’s mother, on the night of the two-year anniversary for her daughter’s murder. So far in January 2022, 11 women have been killed in Juárez. According to police, Most of the 500 murders of women in the past three years have been drug related, with 171 of those murders in 2021 alone.

During a moment of mourning, music was played from Danza de San Isidro, of which Nohemí was a dancer, reminding those present of the ceaseless femicides that have threatened women in Paso del Norte since the seeds of NAFTA were sown in 1993. Organizers of the vigil were persistent in reminding those present that the chief causes of these murders are not drugs, as Chihuahua state police would have us believe, but the violence of patriarchy and border imperialism.

First, organizer Cassandra Alicia spoke about challenging the flippant dismissal of femicides as due to drug involvement, and the necessity for radical activists to show true solidarity with Juarenses’ struggles. This, she said, indicates the chauvinistic nature of activism in El Paso. She added that the border should not be an obstacle for international solidarity, given that the two cities have always been one community.

Cassandra added that the Mexican state’s response, escalating the militarization of Juárez, will do nothing to stop the murders. She also condemned the militarization on the U.S. side of the border, demanding that both sides of the border be demilitarized.

To truly fight back against homophobic, misogynistic, and patriarchal violence, we need to build a mass movement that will mobilize for every murder, a vigil for every femicide. Organizers and activists must take lessons from our comrades across Latin America and take the necessary steps to develop a radical, politically independent movement for gender rights. This includes denouncing the violent, imperialist policies of both dominant political parties in the U.S., demanding open borders, and developing an international movement that fights for change, a movement that is not limited by the lines on the map drawn by slavers and war profiteers.

Facebook Twitter Share

Guest Posts

Monetary Tightening, Inflation and Bank Failures

Michael Roberts takes on bank failures, inflation and the Fed.

Michael Roberts

March 14, 2023

“We Need to Make a Change”: Trans Youth Speak Out and Walk Out

The following is a speech by a student activist from NYC for Trans Rights.

Alex Carroll

March 10, 2023

Ominous New Attacks on Trans Rights Remind Us…It’s Capitalism

If the viciousness and hostility against trans people and ultimately all LGBT people is today open-carried on the Far Right, it is our dependence on fair-weather liberals and the politicians of the Democratic Party that is our Achilles’ heel.

Ian Scott Horst

February 17, 2023

NATO’s War in Ukraine: Building the Anti-war Movement We Need Requires Clarity

As part of the ongoing debates among socialists on the war in Ukraine, we publish this guest polemic.

Rob Lyons

February 17, 2023

MOST RECENT

“Lesser Evil” Biden Wants More Border Patrol Than MAGA Republicans

Over the weekend, Biden bragged about his support for even more resources than “MAGA Republicans.” to “secure the border” on Twitter. This is “lesser evilism” in action.

Molly Rosenzweig

March 28, 2023
Customers clear shelves of water Sunday at Fresh Grocer in West Philadelphia.

A Chemical Plant Just Poisoned Philadelphia’s Water: A First-Hand Account of the Crisis

A company dumped thousands of gallons of poisonous chemicals into Philadelphia’s drinking water. This is an on-the-ground account by a Philadelphia worker and socialist.

Jason Koslowski

March 27, 2023
A group of protesters, in the front of whom are a line of protesters wearing red vests. In the front right corner, a white sign reds "vive la retraite," with a skeleton wearing a red hat in the middle of the sign on a black background with a text bubble on its left that reads, "oiv a bosse, c'est pas pour en crever!"

“French March”: The Right to Revolutionary Optimism

Evoking memories of '68, the students enter the fight against Macron. In our chaotic world, the future can only be built in the streets.

Eduardo Castilla

March 26, 2023

Joe Biden Is Deporting Russians Who Escaped Putin’s Draft — Let Them All In!

The United States is deporting Russians who sought asylum following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is a heinous attack against war resisters and shows that the proxy war in Ukraine is about capitalist rivalry first and foremost.

Sam Carliner

March 26, 2023